Costing just five pounds and little more than the size of a packet of cigarettes - and not a great deal more price-wise - this little book crams lots into its 250 pages.

240 species of British and Irish wild flowers are covered; each page having a combination of photographic image and artist's illustration to provide visual references, a small amount of descriptive text, and facts on plant size, habitat, distribution, and flowering time.

Although the pictures are small they are sufficient to identify our basic flora. The one thing you cannot get into a small volume such as this are sub-species and more exotic and rare plants.

Outdoors folks wanting to cover a wider hunt of the natural world might be better choosing one of the more serious field guides which this reviewer has looked at for the website.

Bottom line...A great little book for those wanting to see if wild flowers and botany might interest them, but at the same time not wanting to spend a fortune. Also good for perhaps encouraging youngsters to the subject. Collins has a whole series of these Gem Guides - Butterflies & Moths, Spiders, Seashore, and Snakes - all of which might be a good starting point should bug hunting or other subject tickle your fancy.